Norm Coleman's case

Coleman says some counties were stricter than others about enforcing requirements governing absentee ballots. He says this means that many absentee ballots were rejected that would have been counted in a different county, and vice versa. These differences, he says, violate voters' rights. Coleman wants the court to order more ballots counted, applying a more lenient standard uniformly.

AL FRANKEN'S CASE

Franken says there is no evidence of intentional or systematic discrimination in the way absentee ballot rules were applied. The state has clear, uniform standards, he says, and some local variation in applying them is an inevitable part of elections that does not rise to the level of a constitutional issue. He says Coleman has had ample chance to prove that the ballots he wants counted conformed to state law and has failed to do so.